Bread of Life Market moves into old Marzen building

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

A common saying in the retail industry is that the customer is always right.

Shelly Tilton heard her patrons’ concerns and did something about it.

Tilton, owner of the Bread of Life Market in Charles City, recently moved that store’s location to 1105 S. Grand Ave., where Marzen’s Towing used to run its business. Bread of Life was formerly in a building on Wisconsin Street.

The store’s new spot opened its doors for business on Monday, along with new hours. The market also has a new sign that is easily visible from the roadway.

“We listened to our customers and a lot of feedback we continue to get from our customers is that we were too far on the north end of town. When it came time for people to try to describe where we were located at and stuff, it was kind of a challenge,” said Tilton. “Grocery shopping is not necessarily everybody’s first love. So having it to be a little more difficult to locate and stuff was definitely not on people’s agenda. You need to make it easy.”

Bread of Life is part of the secondary food market and sells scratch-and-dent products and other items at discount prices. Finding particular items on the shelves should be easier now as well with the new location.

“I think this will make it much more convenient. The layout was also a big deal. We had a lot of customer feedback from the old location that the layout wasn’t as user-friendly for the type of business that I had,” said Tilton.

“With this one we were able to go ahead and make it more of a traditional grocery store layout,” she said. “Everything’s in one big, open room.”

Tilton said the store is organized better and the lighting is improved.

“They’re seeing things that they didn’t necessarily know that we had because it was kind of hodgepodged between one room to another. Where now, everything is a little more sequentiel, where people can kind of go up and down the aisles. It definitely has a better flow,” she said.

That means customers can also easily access a wide variety of Elma Locker meats that are still sold at the market.

Tilton said a truckload of items usually comes into the store about every five or six weeks. She said there is a vast selection of canned vegetables and fruits, as well as a tremendous amount of pet items available for purchase.

“When people come in, every single visit is going to be different. Every truck is different,” said Tilton. “It’s always kind of a fun little hunt and peck.”

Tilton, who was a full-time nurse at MercyOne-North Iowa in Mason City prior to Bread of Life moving, said she is devoting more time to the store. She now works twice a week at the hospital and devotes the rest of her time to Bread of Life.

“We had talked about either we were going to move or we were going to close,” said Tilton. “The whole purpose behind us having this business is our faith. We just wanted to show God as a blessing in the community.”

Tilton works with churches in Charles City so that people who need emergency food vouchers can receive them. Bread of Life also has special discounts for senior citizens, people on rent assistance or those who are on disability. But that doesn’t mean the market caters to any particular group.

“We also put an emphasis on our signage saying that it’s open to the public. There were misconceptions previously that we were discounted food and the reason that we opened the store was to fund our ministry,” said Tilton.

“It is open to everybody. We need everybody to shop here so we can go ahead and give back to the community. The purpose of us opening the business is to be able to help people who are in need of groceries. So we bring in low-cost groceries.”

Tilton said she signed a five-year contract to lease the building.

Tilton said she also received a two-year waiver from the Planning and Zoning Commission regarding Charles City’s off-street parking requirements that require hard surfaces in lots adjacent to businesses. That waiver has not yet been voted on by the City Council.

Bread of Life’s new hours allow customers to shop one hour earlier and one hour later than the old ones. The store is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. until 7 p.m, and Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The store’s grand re-opening will be Monday, Nov. 4.